Marcus Davis answers on LowKick.com's Community Questions

Veteran UFC Welterweight contender Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis, answered on LowKick.com's community questions with just two weeks away from his UFC 118 bout against Nate Diaz. Davis shared his thoughts on the fight against Dan Hardy, his Pro Boxing career and James Toney's chances to defeat Randy Couture on August 28th.

You can follow Marcus via his official website, irishhandgrenade.com.

We would like to thank all the fans who participated in the interview. The questions were choosed by yours truly from this topic (to prevent duplications from our previous interview with Josh, and touch various subjects).

Enjoy! :)

UrHype: Have you even considered going to a division where your height is as tall as anyone else? Lightweight, for instance?

I have considered it. I'm in a real funny area. My height is average at best at 170. (5'10") my reach SUCKS (69) but am as strong as most. My walk around weight is anywhere from 195-205 kind of depends on time between fights. I'm now always trying to stay below 190 but that means no weights because I'll blow up to 200. I'm always 185 -5 days before weight in and I really don't want to cut anymore so I'd rather stay at 170 but if I can figure out how to keep strength and get to 155 without passing out I'll give it a try.

griffin7890: After lossing to Joe Stevenson on TUF 2 you said you will retire, what made you continue doing MMA?

I talked to Jorge Gurgel and told him I was going to retire from fighting and he flipped out on me. Said that he would help me learn what I needed to learn on the ground and I needed to give it a honest effort. I spoke to my family, particularly my children. They all unanimously told me to fight that I wouldn't be happy doing anything else. They are my reason for still fighting.

partyboy: After your victory against Jonathan Goulet at 113, you mentioned your training camp in Waterford. Being from Ireland myself, how do you rate the development of MMA over here, and do you train here often?

I would rate it in 3 different ways. The mental- Desire, dedication and hard work ethic=10 Stand up- boxing, kick boxing and Muay Thai=8 Wrestling- takedowns ground control=3....The people I worked with from Waterford, Galway, Limerick and Dublin all were unbelievably dedicated and HUNGRY to learn. That's the problem is the lack of high level MMA coaching. Great stand up coaches in Ireland great sport BJJ coaches no real masters of the MMA art, like a Mark Dellagrotte or Greg Jackson. I'd give the stand up a 10 but allot of the people I worked/sparred with were to up right, very euro style of stand up as you see in the Olympics. MMA needs a lower crouch style because of take-downs. Wrestling isn't a big national sport in Ireland. They don't have it in schools. In the US 7 out of 10 schools are going to have some form of scholastic wrestling. they start at 4 years old sometimes. Huge advantage.
I've been over to Ireland 5 times now since 2007. When I am over I will always be with my buddies at Waterford Muay Thai and MMA. I have a few really close friends there (Tommy and Brian Partridge and the rest of the boys) I would have been there in June if this fight hadn't have been scheduled. My family and I are planning a holiday there soon.

rflynn: Have you got any bad blood towards Nick Diaz and if so why?

I think you're asking about Nate but- None at all. I actually have shared a locker room with Nick and Nate and they were great. I have been watching Nick fight for ever and never miss one of his fights.

MereDictum : Hardy seemed to really get under your skin both before and after the fight. Did you learn any lessons about how not to react to trash talk from that fight?

I did learn allot from that whole fiasco but I was also dealing with allot of personal problems outside of the UFC and allowing that fight to get under my skin like it did didn't help me any. It affected my personal life and my professional life. After taking DEC through FEB basically to get my life in order and back to focusing on my family and goals I was able to look back at everything from almost and outsiders point of view and realized allot of mistakes I've made.

dray12: Why did you make the switch from Pro Boxing to MMA?

I saw the first UFC in Nov 1993 and was hooked. By 1998 I wasn't even watching boxing anymore even though I was still a pro boxer. I had allot of bad experiences in boxing as far as a business goes. I really believed that MMA was going to blow up like it did. I just knew that I wasn't the only person that felt that way and had faith that if I made the move at that time I could make a good living and love what I was doing at the same time. I've never been happier doing anything else.

Milt: In my opinion, your split decision loss to Dan Hardy was one of the worst decisions in recent memory. Other recent controversial decisions (e.g. Penn vs Edgar and Machida vs Rua) have resulted in immediate rematches. Did the UFC give you a reason for not awarding you an immediate rematch with Dan Hardy? Does it bother you that this decision resulted in Hardy going on to get a title shot in his second next fight, knowing that it could just as easily have been you had the judges scored the fight differently

I asked for a rematch and they just had different plans for Dan. Never gave me a reason as to why. They are the UFC some they really don't have to, I just fight for the company. It doesn't bother me that Dan got to fight for the title. He is a good fighter and did beat Swick to get it so hats off to him- but he didn't win it. You never know what will happen. If I can get on a win streak no reason why with our history we won't meet again. March 17th in Ireland sounds pretty nice to me.

IRISH : Marcus, do you think after you retire you will try to open a number of training facilities in Ireland to promote MMA over here?

That is one of my plans. I have spoken to Mark Dellagrotte about the possibilities of us opening another Team Irish/Sityodtong facility in Ireland. Mark is definitely interested.

Azzer12 : Im from Ireland also, I seen you wore a Waterford GAA Jersey to the weigh-ins against Goulet. Do you have family there? or what's the special connection to the City? - Keep Representing! We all love you here.

I had a cousin that was still over in the Waterford area until recently. He apparently met a Canadian girl who was over on holiday and chased her back to Canada. I came home form Ireland and had a message on my office phone from him that apologized he missed me while I was over but said he had to go after the girl. I thought it was pretty funny.

ston3pony: Which of the two fighters has a better chance to be successful after moving over? Andrei Arlovski in boxing? Or, Toney in MMA? Are boxers that much more effective with their hands? Or is it just a matter of the styles and technique being visually different?

If I had to pick between the 2 it would be Tony that would be most likely of the two to do well only because I think the power in the punching in the heavy weight boxing divsion would be to much for Andrei. Because boxing is only hands that are the weapons you can go further on just pure athletic ability then you can in MMA. If you are fast can hit hard and have great timing you can go really far. Example is Roy Jones. A guy who didnt love boxing, loves basket ball but knew he could make a ton of money in boxing off just natural ability. His technique isn't like a De La Hoya or Pacqiao it was rather a bit sloppy and looked like he slapped at time but he had such natural speed and power he go away with being NOT technically perfect for a long time. That's why in boxing 95+% of the time you can look at a boxing card and pick who is going to win. You know that if Mayweather is fighting he will most likely win IF by chance he loses he with probably STILL be the favorite in the rematch. MMA isnt like this. Too many variables.